1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for use in the floral industry, and, more particularly, to a floral transport apparatus for facilitating the transport and delivery of floral arrangements.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the floral industry, a florist creates for delivery a floral arrangement which typically includes a plant or flowers artistically arranged in a vessel. If the arrangement includes a plant, then the vessel (e.g., a pot) typically contains soil to support the roots of the plant. If the arrangement includes flowers, then the vessel (e.g., a vase) typically contains water in which the stems of the flowers are submerged. Once the floral arrangement is created, it is delivered by a delivery person to the customer. Generally, the delivery person uses a car, van, or truck to deliver many floral arrangements per trip. For example, during a single trip to a hospital or a church, the delivery person may have to deliver many floral arrangements to one location. It is important during the transportation of the floral arrangements that the delivery person stabilize each arrangement to prevent tipping and spilling; and, also it is important to isolate each arrangement to protect the vessels from colliding with one another and to prevent the arrangements themselves from becoming disheveled.
There are several devices in the prior art of floral delivery for transporting floral arrangements. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,657,868 discloses a floral delivery box apparatus to hold and protect a floral arrangement from damage during delivery. Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2 of the '868 patent, the floral box includes a flat base 14 having wing elements 18 which are stapled to a box 16 for holding a floral arrangement 12. Both the base and the box are fabricated from corrugated cardboard. The device is intended to provide a stable platform to hold the floral arrangement during delivery and to resist internal vehicle forces which might otherwise induce tipping of the floral arrangement. The delivery box of the '868 patent, however, is not able to hold a plurality of floral arrangements thereby requiring the florist to make many trips to and from the delivery vehicle in the event that the florist is transporting many arrangements. Moreover, it has been observed that cardboard floral delivery boxes are not suitable for repeated use since they are easily damaged and cannot support the weight of the floral arrangements once the boxes become wet which is inevitable in the floral industry.
As another example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,102,204 assigned on its face Horticultural Technologies, Inc. discloses a plastic foam container for holding floral articles. Referring to FIG. 1 of the '204 patent, the floral container 10 includes a non-absorbent polystyrene base 12 and a series of container segment members 18 (FIG. 3) made from an absorbent polyurethane foam. Each segment member 18 includes a cutout 22 to form a cylindrical stepped bore 23 having a plurality of inwardly extending fingers 25. The fingers of each bore serve to hold a floral arrangement of variable size and to absorb shock forces during transportation. While the container of the '204 does allow for some variability in the diameter of floral vessels which it can hold, the range is very limited. Moreover, since the foam segment members are absorbent, the container cannot be thoroughly washed and becomes malodorous and unsightly after repeated use. Also, another problem has been observed with managing the container of the '204 patent: While the plastic foam material is light, it is also quite flexible thereby becoming cumbersome for the florist who must carry the container by hand for delivery.
Accordingly, the floral industry would find desirable a stable, non-flexible transport apparatus which has the ability to hold a large range of floral vessel sizes and which is easy to keep clean and to manage during delivery. This novel and useful result has been achieved by the present invention.